The Road to Nowhere
by whysostephanie
Summary: A sequel to A World On Fire, Ashlyn finds it hard to trust anyone, including her own cousin, after what happened the night Hershel's farm was taken. Is the world really as safe as she wants to think? Or will she find herself in more trouble than she can handle? DISCLAIMER: Rated M for violence, strong language, and explicit content.


**CHAPTER ONE**

* * *

Remember when I said that people watch the world burning for all sorts of reasons? Well, mine was as simple as seeing how close I could get before I got burned… After everything that's happened, I've learned my lesson. I reached out my hand to touch the glowing flames and ended up a blaze.

That's what happens when you watch the world burn for too long without doing a damn thing about it. You get burned, and when you don't let anyone help you, you get left behind. So what is there left to do? You can emerge from the ashes pray to God that you survive long enough to save yourself. If you can't, you can die trying.

My vision was blurred and my shoulder throbbed. I felt light headed and delirious, most certainly from blood loss and over exertion. I tried to make out the features of the man carrying me, in the pale moonlight I finally saw him look down to me. My heart raced in unease when I saw his face; it was Shane. I gasped for air and pushed my hands against his chest trying to break free, "no! NO! Put me down!"

The world began to go black as my head began to pound; Shane's voice filled my head. Chills ran down my spine as I lost consciousness, "shhh, Ash, I've got you..."

* * *

"What the hell do you mean you _lost_ her?!" Daryl shouted, grabbing Rick by the shirt collar, "I _trusted _you to get her out of there you son of a…" he gritted his teeth and cut himself off by slamming Rick into the side of the truck.

Rick refused to look Daryl in the eye; he just looked at the ground while he took in Daryl's harsh words. He understood Daryl's frustration and knew in his heart that it had been his fault that she was overrun by walkers. Rick was unable to muster up the courage to tell Daryl that he was the one who shot her down, leaving her for the walkers. In all honesty, he didn't know if he could live with himself because of all that had happened in the night. He figured it was fate getting back at him for killing Shane. Ashlyn was the only person who had complete faith in him, she was the only person he could trust with everything, and he needed her counsel now more than ever.

"STOP IT!" Lori cut in, grabbing Daryl by the shoulder, "she's your cousin and YOUR responsibility so don't pin this on Rick, where were you when the farm was taken, huh?!"

Daryl glared her down, but before he could say anything, Rick spoke up, "no, Lori… He's right… She was counting on me, and I let her down."

Daryl's grip loosened, and he looked down. He lost the one person he still cared about, and there was nothing he could do about it. He knew he should have gone back for her himself, but he trusted Rick and now regretted it completely.

Lori put her hands on her hips, "of course you feel that way," she murmured to Rick in a nearly appalled tone as she stormed off to the guard rail nearby. She already knew the truth about Shane, her trust in Rick was already failing.

"Daryl, I am so sorry," Rick said, putting a hand on his shoulder, "but we lost others too… Andrea… Shane… Hershel's people too."

This comment made Daryl scoff, "and they ain't my baby cousin." He mumbled curses under his breath as he let go of Rick and stormed off into the woods. No one followed him, they just let him go, knowing he didn't want to talk to anyone.

Night fell, and the group set up camp. Rick admitted to killing Shane, in self-defense, but never admitted the truth of how he left Ashlyn. Hershel knew the reality of the situation, but he also knew it was not his place to involve himself. Daryl remained to himself, quiet and closed off from everyone else. He was still in disbelief over all that had happened.

After Rick gave his speech about taking control of the group and not letting it be a democracy anymore he went off on his own for a bit. He needed desperately to clear his head. Every time he closed his eyes he saw the same image of Ashlyn going down, he heard her screams over and over again in his head. The guilt he felt was nearly over whelming; it was more than that which he felt towards Shane. Ashlyn had been one of the reasons he had originally accepted killing Shane. He thought that if he was dead not only could Shane be unable to steal Lori and Carl for himself- but he'd also be unable to harm Ashlyn any further. Now, Rick lost all certainty in his actions, more than that he lost his strongest confidant and supporter.

He stared off into the woods, looking for any ounce of comfort he could- and that's when he saw it. There was a light off in the woods about a hundred yards out, close to the road. It looked vaguely like a fire. Rick made his way towards the dimly glowing light with his gun at the ready. He had no idea what to expect, but if there were people nearby he needed to know whether they were a threat or not.

As he got closer he realized that it was a dying flame, and by the looks of it, it had been burning for a long time. There was a truck nearby as well, keeping Rick on his guard. It looked familiar to him but he had seen a thousand trucks like it in his lifetime. He crouched down by the fire, looking around at the few objects that were laid out near it. There were bloodied cloths that looked to be torn from a shirt- in fact there was blood everywhere, and a lot of it… Something shining in the moonlight caught Rick's eye, he reached down and picked up a silver chain from the dirt. Once he saw what was at the end of it, his jaw dropped. It was the same silver necklace Ashlyn had worn around her neck.

"It can't be…" He whispered, staring at the locket in the light of the glowing embers. He came back to reality when he looked down at the blood, "Ashlyn!"

In a heartbeat he was on his feet, rushing to the old beat up truck. He looked inside and his heart sank. Ashlyn was lying inside, curled into a ball, but was she alive?

"Oh God, please," he whispered shakily as he opened the door so forcefully he thought he'd break the handle right off. "Ashlyn, Ashlyn please, wake up!"

He took her pulse, noticing it was weak. He then noticed her messily wrapped shoulder, fearing the worst. Carefully as he could, he moved the bandage, praying that it wasn't a bite wound. When he saw the burns he was speechless and confused. In awe of what he had found he picked up Ashlyn's bloody and limp figure, "Ash, hold on, it's okay now…" Rick's words were soft but held worry; he could only hope she could hear him.

As he carried her back to camp he tried to hurry, knowing Hershel needed to look at her. While he got closer to camp he began calling for Daryl in a haze, then for Hershel and the others. Daryl was the first to approach him.

"What the hell, keep yer voice down!" Daryl snapped, before he saw Rick carrying the girl, "that's not… Oh my God, ASH!"

Once he saw who it was he ran to Rick, "oh, God, Ash…"

Rick looked down to her, his words were spaced out, he was nearly in shock "she's alive… but barely, blood everywhere, she…. There's a burn on her shoulder." She began opening her eyes.

"It's alright now," Rick said softly, trying not to sound worried, "Ashlyn." Once she heard him speak her eyes widened, it was almost as though she didn't recognize him. She started screaming and pushing at him, but he just spoke again, "shh Ashlyn, I've got you." The girl lost consciousness again, but mumbled a name.

Shane.

Rick felt his stomach drop at the sound of his name, he wasn't even sure if all this was really happening, but he knew that he couldn't let this girl die… He'd already left her for dead once and knew he couldn't let it happen again.

"What the hell happened to her?!" Daryl frantically questioned, looking at her bandages, "HERSHEL, get out here!"

By the time they got to camp everyone was gathering around in concern, Rick laid Ashlyn down on the bed of Hershel's truck, he put his now bloodied hands in his hair. "I thought… She was… She went down…Hershel…. You saw it…"

Daryl rushed to Ashlyn's side, pushing past Rick, he started checking her for bites, "shit, she's lost a lot of blood… Come on little girl, stay with me." He grabbed her hand, squeezing it. It took every ounce of strength he had to hold back the tears that were forming.

By now, Hershel was examining her as well, "you're right, she had lost a lot of blood. The burn on her shoulder- it looks like a cauterization wound. Rick, that bullet must have gone straight through…" He checked her pulse.

"Bullet? What bullet?" Daryl questioned, dropping Ash's hand, looking to Rick, "what the hell is he talking about, Rick?" Daryl hissed lowly, taking a step towards the man.

"It was an accident, I swear," Rick pleaded, backing away, "she was surrounded, I missed my mark… I… I.."

"YOU _SHOT_ MY BABY GIRL?!" Daryl screamed lunging at Rick, Glen and T-Dog held him back, "WHEN WERE YOU GONNA TELL ME THIS, HUH?" Daryl broke free from their grasp and threw a right-hook at Rick, hitting him square in the jaw.

"STOP!" Lori cried. Carol held her back so she wouldn't get in the crossfire.

Rick took the punch, knowing he deserved it, "I'm sorry…" Was all he could manage to say.

Daryl scoffed at this, shaking his head.

"You better be fucking sorry," he spat, "you've been nothin' BUT trouble for her since she came 'round here! You stay the hell away from her from now on, _YOU GOT THAT_?" Daryl's voice was cold and demanding, he jabbed Rick in the chest with two fingers, trying to make his point clear.

Rick just hung his head for a moment without answering Daryl. Finally, he looked to Hershel, "will she be alright?"

"It's hard to tell… We don't have any of the proper provisions to look after her here… But she's strong, and she did the right thing by cauterizing the wound… It looks like a clean burn so she must have disinfected it somehow. We'll need to take shifts, monitoring her condition until she comes to. But…She's a fighter, I'm almost positive she'll survive…."

"You're damn right she'll survive," Daryl spoke up bluntly. Walking over to Ashlyn, he sat down next to her softly touching her cheek, "she's a Dixon..."

* * *

**Author Note: **

Welcome back everyone! And…. Hello to all of you new readers, (who must be extremely confused right now….) this is officially the kick off to part two of A World on Fire.  
In all honesty this was NOTHING like I planned for the story to go, but because of the poll I had going around and your guys' opinion of where the story should go, I had to improvise and change my plot completely (for now…) Originally Merle was going to find her, but don't worry, I'm sure they'll run into each other again someday ;) Anyway, Ashlyn has had one hell of a ride, first she gets shot, then cauterized the wound BY HERSELF, and then finally hallucinates and see's Shane. Or is she hallucinating? Maybe she's crossing over to the other side? Nah, I couldn't end this story THAT quickly. In any case… This was the extremely rough introduction to The Road to Nowhere, part two of A World on Fire.  
I promise it will get better; I'm just terrible at introductions/transitions. BUT, thank you for reading!


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